'P. S.--Whoop! hurrah! Light is upon the world again! Where are you, my dear friend? I say, Sir, I was an ass--do you hear?--an _ass_, premature, wise before my time, a brute, a blockhead! Did I talk of dust and ashes? O Sir! I lied multitudinously. Every nerve, every muscle that didn't try to strangle me in that utterance, _lied_. No, Sir; let me tell you it's a great world; glorious--magnificent; a world that can't be beat! Talk of the stars and a better world, but don't invite me there yet. Make my regrets, my apology to DEATH, but say that I can't come; 'positive engagement; happy some other time, but not now.' Oh! no; this morning is quite too beautiful to leave; and beside, I would rather stay, if only to thank God a little longer for this glorious light, this pure air that can echo back my loudest hurrah. And then, my boy----But haven't I told you? Why, Sir, I've got a boy!--a _boy_! ha, ha! I shout it out to you--a BOY; a ten-pounder, and the mother a great deal _better_ than could be expected! And, I say, my old friend, it's _mine_! Hurrah and hallelujah forever! O Sir! such legs, and such arms, and such a head!--and _he has his mother's lips_! I can kiss them forever! And then, Sir, look at his feet, his hands, his chin, his eyes, his every thing, in fact--so perfect! Give me joy, Sir: no you needn't either, I am full now; I run over; and they say that I ran over a number of old women, half-killed the mother, pulled the doctor by the nose, and upset a 'pothecary shop in the corner; and then didn't I ring the tea-bell? Didn't I blow the horn? Didn't I dance, shout, laugh, and cry altogether? The women say they had to tie me up. I don't believe _that_; but who is going to shut his mouth up when he has a live baby? You should have heard his lungs, Sir, at the first mouthful of fresh air; such a burst! A little tone in his voice, but not pain; excess of joy, Sir, from too great sensation. The air-bath was so sudden, you know. Think of all his beautiful machinery starting off at once in full motion; all his thousand outside feelers answering to the touch of the cool air; the flutter and crash at the ear; and that curious contrivance the eye, looking out wonderingly and bewildered upon the great world, so glorious and dazzling to his unworn perceptions; his net-work of nerves, his wheels and pulleys, his air-pumps and valves, his engines and reservoirs; and within all, that beautiful fountain, with its jets and running streams dashing and coursing through the whole length and breadth, without either stint or pause--making altogether, Sir, exactly ten pounds avoirdupois!